JUDICIAL ETHICS OPINION 2024 v. << (2024)

¶1 Question: May a district court judge attend a fundraising event sponsored by Equality South?

¶2 Answer: No

¶3 Discussion: While no information was provided about Equality South , one of its publicly stated “Missions” is as follows:

“Equality South Action Fund will recruit, support and elect LGBTQ+ and community allies running for local, county, tribal and statewide offices in Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama.”

¶4 Attendance at a fundraising event sponsored by Equality South would be a clear violation of Canon 4.1(A)(5). Under this rule, “a judge.․shall not.․attend or purchase tickets for dinners or other events sponsored by a political organization or another candidate for public office.”

¶5 While this mission of Equality South certainly has merit, it is purely political and precisely the type of “event” sponsored by a “political organization” that is prohibited by Canon 4.1(A)(5). Further, this type of event could be interpreted as supporting “another candidate for public office”, which is also prohibited conduct for district court judges.

¶6 JEAP 2012-1, ¶ 6 provides some perspective, stating:

“Because of the unique position a judge holds in our constitutional system of government, this is but another example of a judge being prohibited from participating in a project of undoubted merit, just as a judge is prohibited from fund raising for good and worthwhile projects, or being prohibited from exercising civic responsibility to engage in political activities.”

Honorable William C. Hetherington, Chair -- Concur Honorable Glenn D. Adams -- Concur in the Result Honorable Allen McCall -- Concur Honorable Patricia G. Parrish -- Concur Honorable Sheila Condren -- Concur